Detergent compositions

ABSTRACT

A DETERGENT COMPOSITION PRIMARILY ADAPTED FOR USE AS AN INDUSTRIAL SURFACTANT WHICH COMPRISES A LIQUID SUBSTANTIALLY BIODEGRADABLE MIXTURE OR BLEND OF AN ETHOXYLATED DETERGENT RANGE ALCOHOL AND AN ETHOXYLATED PLASTICISER RANGE ALCOHOL, THE SAID MIXTURE OR BLEND INCLUDING ETHOXYLATES OF ALCOHOLS DERIVED BY HYDROFORMYLATION OF MIXED OLEFINES.

United States Patent Office US. Cl. 252--89 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A detergent composition primarily adapted for use as anindustrial surfactant which comprises a liquid substantiallybiodegradable mixture or blend of an ethoxylated detergent range alcoholand an ethoxylated plasticiser range alcohol, the said mixture or blendincluding ethoxylates of alcohols derived by hydrofor-mylation of mlxedolefines.

The present invention concerns liquid detergent compositions primarilyfor use as general purpose industrial surfactants. 1

A detergent material presently extensively used in industrial cleaningand scouring operations (for example general cleaning, emulsifying, woolscouring and leather tanning) is alkyl phenol ethoxylate, for examplenonyl phenol ethoxylate, containing an average of 8 to 10 moles ofethylene oxide per mole of alkyl phenol. This mate rial exhibits anexcellent balance of general detergent properties but an importantfactor contributing to its ready acceptance by industrial users is itsliquidity at'ordinary temperatures which permits easy transporation,storage, metering, and dosing. In one important respect, however, alkylphenol ethoxylates are not wholly satisfactory;

they are doubtfully sufliciently biodegradable even when the alkylgrouping of the phenol residue is linear.

Any biodegradable detergent material or composition that is to gainacceptance on its merits as a general purpose liquid cleaning agent in,say, industrial outlets, where alkyl phenol ethoxylates are presentlypredominantly used should as well as displaying an acceptable balance ofdetergent properties, very desirably also'be a liquid at ordinarytemperatures. Detergent materials that are slurries or solids may, ofcourse, be brought into aqueous solution and be distributed and handledas. such but this is seldom as satisfactory as dealing in a liquidmaterial of the highest possible content of active ingredient.-

The present invention provides a detergent composition primarily adaptedfor use as an industrial surfactant where alkyl phenol ethoxylatespresently have established utility, which comprises a liquidsubstantially biodegradable mixture or blend of an ethoxylated higheralcohol (or mixture of higher alcohols) containing from 11 to 20,preferably 11 to 15, carbon atoms in the alcohol residue and anethoxylated lower alcohol (or mixture of lower alcohols) containing from6 to 10 carbon atoms in the alcohol residue, the degree of ethoxylationbeing the same or difierent in the two cases and in each case being toan average of from 5 to 10 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol(subject to liquidity in the mixture or blend) Patented Sept. 12, 1972and wherein said mixture or blend including ethoxylates of alcoholsderived by hydroformylation of mixed olefines.

The present compositions are to be liquid at ordinary temperatures (say10 to 20 C.). Liquidity at 0 C. will be desirable in some cases and toachieve this test with differing mixtures or blends may be' necessary.For a higher alcohol fraction containing alcohols with 11 to 15 carbonatoms and in which, for instance, the C alcohol is a principal componentso that the average carbon content is, for example, around 12, theoptimum average level of ethylene oxide is around 7 moles per mole ofalcohol. A lower alcohol ethoxylate fraction blended or mixed with thishigher alcohol ethoxylate fraction and derived for instance from amixture of alcohols in which the C alcohol is a principal component mayvery suitably also contain an average of around 7 moles of ethyleneoxide per mole of alcohol. Alcohols of diflerent molecular weights tendto be ethoxylated to similar average extents under given conditions and,thus, when a mixture of condensates as aforedescribed is prepared byethoxylating a mixture of alcohols, the level of ethoxylation of thelower alcohol fraction will be similar to that of the higher alcoholfraction. Clearly, however, a blend of condensates may also beobtainedby mixing separately formed condensates of the higher and loweralcohol fractions.

There appears to be a wide range of relative contents of higher andlower alcohol ethoxylates over which a liquid material is obtained.Broadly, very satisfactory are compositions containing from 30% toaround 75% by weight of higher alcohol ethoxylates although, subject toliquidity at ambient temperature, somewhat higher contents of higheralcohol ethoxylate may be satisfactory. These compositions, especially,perform extremely well as detergent materials, as assessed by a numberof different standard tests of detergency performance, and compare -veryfavourably with commercially produced alkyl phenol ethoxylates on aweight/Weight basis even though a proportion of the compositions of theinvention is provided by lower alcohol ethoxylates which are notthemselves considered as active detergent materials.

-. The applicants attach greatest importance to compositions which, assupplied to the trade and to consumers, are essentially non-aqueous. Noadvantage is seen in converting an already liquid material which has ahigh content of active material'into a diluted form, for distribution,by water incorporation. However, if desired, the compositions of thepresent invention may contain a proportion of water. Furthermore, formany outlets there will be no need or desire to incorporate into thepresent compositions anyof the various incidental or auxiliaryingredients which already find use as components of detergent ticularadvantage is anticipated to follow from so doing for the primary purposefor which the present compositions have been developed. These formulatedproducts may be in solid particulate or bar form or in liquid form asdesired.

The ethoxylates of alcohols derived by hydroformylation of mixedolefines may be contained in or provide the whole of the ethoxylates ofthe lower alcohol fraction or be contained in or provide the whole ofthe ethoxylates of the higher alcohol fraction.

Preferred compositions according to the present inventions are thosewherein the higher alcohol ethoxylate fraction is produced from alcoholsderived by a process including hydroformylation of mixed olefines.

The liquid mixtures or blends contained in or constituting the detergentcompositions of the present invention are biodegradable to a substantialextent. Differences in the degree of biodegradability or the ease ofbiodegradability are, however, shown by ethoxylation of alcohols ofdifferent molecular structures, linearity of the carbon chains favouringrapid biodegradation.

The following examples illustrate the invention and include comparisonswith relevant commercially available detergent materials.

EXAMPLE 1 Component alcohol (percent by weight) (3 C Ca a 010 C11 13 15Mixture 1 13 23 28 21 10 Mixture 2 25. 5 27. 5 11 21 5 Both mixtureswere ethoxylated by standard ethoxylation procedures to an averageethylene oxide content of 7 moles per mole of alcohol. The resultantmixed ethoxylates were liquids at 10 C. and showed excellent detergentproperties as assessed by surface tension measurement, wetting tests,foam development and stability, and washing trials and, additionally,were biodegradable.

The quantitative results of these tests (and the correspondingperformance of a commercial nonyl phenol 8.5 mole ethoxylate and acommercial higher alcohol 9 mole ethoxylate) were as follows:

(A) Surface tension measured by the standard Du Nouy method at 0.1% byweight concentration in Water:

Surface tension (dynes/cm. Mixture l ethoxylate 27.4 Mixture 2ethoxylate 28.6 Nonyl phenol ethoxylate 31.6 Higher alcohol ethoxylate32.0

(B) Wetting properties as measured by the standard Draves-Clarksonmethod at 0.2% by weight concentration in water:

Wetting time (seconds) Mixture 1 ethoxylate 8.7 Mixture 2 ethoxylate10.5 Nonyl phenol ethoxylate 10.3 Higher alcohol ethoxylate 19 (C)Detergency test using Lauderometer machine, a working temperature of 60C., a solution of 0.25% by weight concentration in water of 50 ppm.hardness, and, as the sample, EMC soiled wool. The results indicaterelative soil removal with the results for the commercial nonyl phenolethoxylate arbitrarily set as 100 units.

Relative soil removal (arbitrary units) Mixture 1 ethoxylate 105 Mixture2 ethoxylate 105 Nonyl phenol ethoxylate 100 Higher alcohol ethoxylate90 (D) Foam height and foam stability as determined by the standardRossMiles test:

In 50 p.p.m. hardness water Mixtures were prepared by blending anethoxylate of a C1445 alcohol (derived from hydroformylation ofolefines) containing 6 molecular proportions of ethylene oxide perhydroxyl group, with ethoxylates of Ziegler C alcohols containing 6 and9 molecular proportions, respectively, of ethylene oxide per hydroxylgroup.

The percentage compositions by weight of the mixtures are given in thefollowing table.

Cwis it-10 Ca-ro alcohol/6 mol alcohol/6 inol alcohol/9 mol ethoxylateethoxylate ethoxylate Mixture 1 75 25 Mixture 2 75 25 Detergency testscarried out on synthetically soiled wool serge showed the above mixturesto be superior in detergent efliciency to a well established product ofproved performance, viz., nonyl phenol condensed with 8 molecularproportions of ethylene oxide and additionally to be biodegradable.

We claim:

1. A liquid cleaning agent whose detergent active material consistsessentially of a liquid mixture or blend of V substantially linearhigher and lower primary alcohol ethoxylates, said higher primaryalcohol ethoxylates being ethoxylates of alcohols of carbon contents inthe range C to C derived by hydroformylation of mixed olefins andcontaining from 5 to 10 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol andsaid lower primary alcohol ethoxylates being ethoxylates of mixedalcohols of carbon contents in the range C to C that include as aprincipal component at least one alcohol having 7 to 8 carbon atoms andcontaining from 5 to 10 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol, theproportion by weight of said higher primary alcohol ethoxylates in saidmixture or blend of higher and lower alcohol ethoxylates in the range ofabout 30 to 75%.

2. A liquid cleaning agent as claimed in claim 1 wherein said higheralcohol ethoxylates include as a principal component ethoxylated Calcohol and said lower alcohol ethoxylates include as a principalcomponent ethoxylated C alcohol.

5 6 3. A liquid cleaning agent as claimed in claim 1 where- 2,870,2201/1959 Carter 260-615 in the average carbon content of said higheralcohols is 3,372,201 3/1968 Leary et al. 260-615 B around 12 and theaverage carbon content of said lower alcohols is around 8. FOREIGNPATENTS 4. A liquid cleaning agent as claimed in claim 1 where- 5719,445 12/1954 Great Britain 260 615 B in said higher alcoholethoxylates are ethoxylates of alcohols derived by hydroformylation ofwax-cracked olefins. Soap & Chem Specialties, J l 1955 57 ReferencesCited LEON D. ROSDOL, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 W. E.SCHULZ, Assistant Examiner 2,920,045 1/1960 Hearn et a1. 252DIG. 1 US.Cl. X.R.

1,970,578 8/1934 Schoeller et a1. 252-DIG. 1 252-DIG. 1, DIG. 6

